It's Burn Off Season again - Smoke in the City
Smokey Skies!
It's that time of year again, when the DPAW (Department of Parks and Wildlife and DFES (Department of Fire and Emergency Services) decide to carry out prescribed burns to clear out excess vegetation for the prevention of more dangerous bushfires later in the season, when it can get very hot and windy. THey do have a very informative website which tells you when there will be burns. Today is one of those days where the smoke has blown into the city, resulting in the sun shining trough the smoke and turning everything an orange or brown tinge. This is the view from my office:
Oh look!! Somebody has parked in a clearway and is being loaded up and towed away by the vultures tow truck.
Back to the smoke.... Hopefully these prescribed burns don't last too long, and we get some rain to clear the air. Tomorrow morning the city will be under a smoke blanket, and my poor sinuses will be burning like crazy. It is a necessary evil with all the forestry around, and the incredible dry heat and wind we have later in the year over summer. We've had a few disastrous fire seasons in the past few years, with almost the whole town of Yarloop being burned to the ground in January 2016 (181 buildings). That fire burned for 17 days, and went through 69,000 hectares of land. Hopefully these burn offs will make these disasters avoidable in future. We don't want another scene like this from 2016...
We're heading into the rainy winter season now, so this is probably the best time to burn off the dead, dry fire fuel lying about. The wind is down, and we've had a few patches of rain, so the burn offs are definitely more controllable right now. Good disaster management and prevention is crucial, so I can't begrudge a few days of smoke inhalation I guess...
We just need to remember to not leave our washing out on the line, or it will come in smelling of smoke.
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In my opinion the smoke and more laundry attention is a small price to pay in order to prevent the fatal disaster.
Ahh your turn, we got smoked out here...I can't even remember when it was. Last week or so? I remember opening the front door and walking out and thinking jeez it's misty, and then inhaled, and finished up whatever it was I needed to do out there (think it was refilling water pots) and then scurried back inside XD
Probably a good thing I was really behind on the washing that day.
It seems to have cleared off this morning up north. Will have to see what the city is like though. Nothing worse than taking in your washing and it's smelling like smoke.
Ahhh, the smoke. I am American but lived in Canberra 2002 - the start of 2007. So, one I was there for their massive bushfire which was like nothing I have ever seen. But two, that smoke & smell you describe is so distinctly Australian to me. Where I live in the US you get fireplace smoke on autumn & winter nights, but it is not the same as the eucalyptus fire smell.... which of course is often a summer smell.
Yeah, with so much forestry and woodlands around, those bushfires can get really big and intense. I suppose the smoke does have a distinct smell to is as well. Those lemon-scented eucalyptus trees do smell nice in the spring and summer.
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